The next morning, Kyle was reluctantly forced to crawl out of bed early. The reason? He had forgotten to close the curtains last night, and the sunlight streamed through the round window of the dormitory, shining directly on his face like a spotlight. Who could sleep through that?
With a sigh, Kyle dressed himself, stretched lazily, and made his way to the window. Despite being in the lower levels of Hogwarts Castle, which was on uneven ground, the sunlight came through clearly. Through the round window, he could see the waving grass and dandelions outside.
He glanced over at his two roommates, who were still sound asleep, and with a blank expression, he opened the window as wide as it would go. In just five years, they would be taking their O.W.L.s exams—how could they still be sleeping at this hour? And it was already 7:30 AM, which, when rounded up, was almost 8:50. That meant there were only minutes left before the first class began. It was their first lesson at Hogwarts, and it was important to make a good impression on the professors. Being late would not bode well.
That early morning breeze, filled with moisture, was undoubtedly the best alarm clock.
"I'm just too thoughtful," Kyle nodded to himself in satisfaction. He truly cared for his roommates. It wasn't like he wanted them to wake up early with him—he was a Hufflepuff, after all, and would never do something so inconsiderate.
After a quick wash, Kyle walked through the passage leading from the common room and left the dormitory.
As everyone knew, the staircases at Hogwarts had a mind of their own. It seemed like they always enjoyed changing direction at the most inconvenient times, stretching to higher floors or moving unpredictably, delighting in the groans of students who had to run around in confusion.
Kyle had prepared himself for this, expecting to take a few detours. But for some reason, whether it was because he had enough time or simply because the stairs weren't quite ready for their antics yet, he made it from the common room straight to the Great Hall without any trouble. Not once did the stairs change direction. It was surprisingly quiet, and Kyle was a bit disappointed. Honestly, he was a little curious to see if they would try to mess with him.
Though it was still not quite 8 AM, the Great Hall was already filled with students. The Ravenclaw table was almost full, and other houses had a few upperclassmen scattered here and there. But at the Hufflepuff table... it was just Kyle.
As soon as he sat down, a steaming breakfast appeared on his plate—a glass of milk, two sausages, and a slice of bread. It wasn't a grand meal, but it was decent. If he wanted more, he could always ask for a second helping.
Kyle ate at a leisurely pace, and before long, two familiar figures entered the Great Hall, walking toward him.
"Hey, Kyle, why are you up so early?" Michael and Ryan quickly approached.
"I didn't want to," Kyle replied nonchalantly, cutting a piece of sausage and popping it into his mouth. "I was planning to sleep in, but the window was open, and the wind was too cold to sleep through. What about you guys? Why are you up so early?"
"Same here," Michael said with a pained expression. "I thought you had opened the window."
"The window was open when I left," Kyle said, emphasizing the words "when I left" with a bit of extra weight.
"I see, it must have been the wind," Mickel said, grabbing a piece of bread and taking a big bite. "It's a good thing, though. I was up until past midnight last night. If the window hadn't been open, I definitely wouldn't have woken up in time for class. Can you imagine being late on the first day? I'd probably get expelled."
Ryan nodded in agreement. Though he woke up at 8 AM at home, that was only because his mother dragged him out of bed. If he were left to his own devices, there was no way he'd make it to the first class on time.
Kyle smiled. "Well, you guys should really thank the kind soul who opened the window for you."
"Yeah, definitely," Mickel agreed, continuing to eat without noticing anything odd about Kyle's statement.
After finishing his last sip of milk, Kyle stood up. "You guys keep eating. I'm going to go for a walk."
"Okay," they both said in unison.
Saying goodbye to his roommates, who were still absorbed in their meal, Kyle walked straight toward the castle doors. It was only just past 8 AM, and class didn't start for a while. Since he had some time, he decided to solve his pet problem.
There was already a cat and a toad in the dormitory, so he couldn't exactly be left out.
Stepping outside the castle doors, Kyle raised his arm with practiced ease. At once, seven or eight owls swooped down from all directions and landed neatly on the stone steps in front of him.
"This isn't about delivering letters," Kyle told them. "I'll be staying at Hogwarts for quite a while, and I'd like to hire one of you as my personal messenger. The compensation? Full meals, at least one pack of owl nuts every day, three packs of Mothra rat jerky every week, and one bottle of owl supplement every month... For now, that's all. If you need anything else, I can add more. And even after I graduate, these conditions will still apply, until you can no longer flap your wings. So, if anyone's interested, come sit on my shoulder."
Kyle's family talent had nothing to do with this. Owls, as the magical world's official messengers, had a natural affinity for magic. With a little training, they could understand wizarding speech. And the owls at Hogwarts were among the best in this regard.
Although Kyle's offer might have been a little complicated for the owls to fully comprehend, with some gestures, they understood about 70 to 80 percent of it.
In less than a second, the owls started fighting to land on Kyle's shoulder. Some of the slower ones even began attacking the owls in front of them.
Chaos erupted around him, with feathers flying everywhere.
Kyle chuckled and scratched his head in exasperation. He tried to calm them down, but it was too late. The situation had gotten too chaotic for him to resolve with just a few words.
Thankfully, the chaos didn't last long. A large brown fishing owl, using its size as an advantage, easily knocked the others aside and perched triumphantly on Kyle's shoulder.
Kyle recognized this owl. It had been about three years ago when Chris had found it. It had been badly injured, nearly lifeless, at the entrance of the Ministry of Magic's mail desk, clinging to an undelivered letter.
Because Chris had found it in time, he had immediately healed it and brought it home, taking care of it for over half a month until it fully recovered.
Despite that, the owl had a long scar across its face, a scar caused by dark magic, which couldn't be removed. Neither Chris nor Newt could do anything about it. Even its feathers couldn't cover it.
Compared to the other owls, this one appeared... rather ugly.
But Kyle didn't care about that. He scratched the feathers on its neck and smiled. "Hello, Ratton."
The owl tilted its head and gently nuzzled Kyle's fingers with its beak.
Ratton. That had been the nickname Kyle had given it. When he first met it, he didn't know its real name, and the nickname had just been a convenience during feeding time.
He hadn't expected it to actually respond to the name.
When Hagrid came to take the owl back a while later, he spent over half an hour calling it "Seben, Seben" in the nearby woods, but it didn't respond at all. Only when Kyle quietly called out "Ratton" did it slowly fly out to him.
Hagrid was completely stunned. He didn't recover for a long time. The feeling was as if he had been raising a daughter only for Kyle to steal her away. It was quite a blow to him.
...
(End of Chapter)
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